Alright, if you'll take your
Bibles now and turn to Ephesians chapter 1. God is the source. The source and giver of all blessings. There are no blessings that cannot
be traced back to God. We're living in a day when we
There's a lot of these things being looked at and attributed
to men. But according to this book and
by example and by the history of men of God, we know that God
is the source and giver of all blessings. And He's the giver
and source of all blessings as He is the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ. There are no blessings. outside
of him. Outside of him. Things that men
call blessings. I was hunting several years ago
down on a private hunting farm and there was a man there that
I got to know and I really liked him. He had a good character
about him. We started talking and some things and he had a
son who that I was surprised to learn
who believed many of these things that we call the doctrines of
grace. And I was talking to him and he said, I'm blessed. He said, I'm blessed. And what
he meant by that was that the Lord had provided for him. He was a rich man. He was a rich
man. Well, having money and success
And that type of thing is not necessarily a blessing. If it's
outside of Christ and outside the purpose of God in Christ,
then it's not a blessing at all. It's a curse. And there's a lot
of things. We don't have time to go over
all of them, but there's a lot of things that men call blessings
that are not blessings at all. We're only blessed. God only
blesses men in Christ. Everything outside of Christ
is curse. He alone stands in eternity as
the everlasting Father who has directed the Spirit of the Lord.
He said, who do I counsel with? Who directed me? He said, I want
you to think about that. Who directed me? Who did I take counsel with when
I created the world? Who was there? Who was around?
Who did I ask? Whose opinion did I ask? Who
contributed to that creation? Who contributed to all these
things that led up to your existence? Who hath directed the Spirit
of the Lord, or being his counselor, hath taught him? With whom took
he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path
of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of
understanding? That's Isaiah chapter 40. So then, he says this in verse
25, to whom then will you liken me or shall I be equal, saith
the Holy One? Who are you going to compare
me to? What are you going to compare
me to? How are you going to know anything about me? Who was around
when these things began? Lift up your eyes, verse 26.
Lift them up on high and behold who hath created these things.
that bringeth out their host by number. He calleth them all
by names, by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong
in power, and not one faileth. God is the source of all blessings,
as he is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And as
a father produces by his seed all that shall be called by his
name, all that shall be called his house, so God through his
seed, Christ, will produce all that shall be called by his name,
and all that shall be called his house. It's through Christ. And as God
speaks to us in these last days, he speaks to us by his Son, whom
he hath appointed heir of all things, and by whom also he made
the Word. He is the source and giver of
all spiritual blessings as He is the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ. And apart from this eternal begatting
of Christ, there is nothing to see. There is nothing to know. There is nothing to tell. There
is nothing to hope for outside of Christ. And then He says this
back in Ephesians chapter 1. He said, Who hath blessed us? He blessed us. Now, for God to have blessed
is as sure as being blessed. Isaiah 46, 9. You've read this
often. I quote it to you all the time.
He said, remember the former things of old. Remember those
things. For I am God, and there's none
like me. I am God, and there's none like declaring the end from
the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not
yet done, saying my counsel shall stand, I'll do all my pleasure. If the God we call on can fail,
here's what God's telling you. If the God we call on can fail,
if there's something that He wants to do and can't, if there's
something He's purposed to do, that does not come to pass. He's
not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible does everything
he purposes to do. That's what he says. He said,
this is what sets me apart from all these other gods. This is
what sets me apart from these things that you make out of wood
and overlay with gold and set up on the shelf and pray to that
hath no hands or feet and can't answer you and can't do anything
for you. What sets me apart from them is that I declare the end
from the beginning. I declare from ancient times
the things that are not done yet, not said yet. Not accomplished
yet. And he said, and I tell you as
God that all these things are going to come to pass exactly
as I foretell. I'm God. That's what Paul is
talking about here. The God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ has blessed us. Now, if He hath blessed us in
eternity, it's as sure as being blessed. Because nobody can stop
Him. Nobody can hinder Him. Nobody
can resist Him. He is God. He is God. He told Israel, He said, I am
the Lord, I change not. What did He tell them that? He
said, therefore, you sons of Jacob are not consumed because
I am God and because I change not. What God is determined to
bless is blessed. He hath blessed us, Paul said.
And then thirdly, back in Ephesians 1, he said, He has blessed us
with all spiritual blessings. Now here's the key to understanding
what it means to be blessed. It's the spiritual blessing that
determines the temporal to be a blessing or not. It's these
spiritual blessings. Riches might be a curse if they
lead me away from Christ. Poverty might be a blessing if
it causes me to seek Him. Death and disease can be either.
depending on the spiritual blessing. Death to an unbeliever, I can't
even describe the horror of what that is. But death to the believer is
an open door into glory, isn't it? You see the difference? Spiritual blessing. Now, if I'm
not spiritually blessed, oh, it's a doorway into eternal woe. Spiritual blessings are solid,
substantial, lasting. Peter said, we're begotten again
unto a lively hope to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that
fadeth not away. Ain't you glad he don't? Fadeth
not away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power
of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. They are substantial, unshakable. Spiritual blessings are blessings
designed by eternal wisdom, sent out of everlasting love and goodness,
seasoned with mercy and kindness, and given by the free grace of
God. Blessings. Blessings. All right. Fourthly, he said
this back in Ephesians 1. He said, He blessed us, God has. blessed us. The God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings. Now watch this. In heavenly places. In heavenly places. Not on earth
where it would be subject to man's failure or man's greed
or man's corruption. But in heavenly places. Think
about that. To be blessed in heavenly places
is to be blessed of God. Heaven is His throne. Earth is
His footstool. If He blesses me in heavenly
places, the blessings are sure then, aren't they? They're substantial
then. Heaven is where He abides. Heaven is uncorruptible, undefiled. Heaven is eternal bliss. Having been raised from the dead,
appeared to different wants on the earth, different people.
on the earth for 40 some days, 500 at one time. And after giving
these 11 chosen apostles their commission, it said he was received
up into heaven. Heaven received him. And he sat
down on the right hand of God. We're blessed with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. in Christ. The Savior of men condescended
from heaven to this earth to accomplish what God had purposed
to bless. And having accomplished this
work, he was received again. And there he sits at the right
hand of God, expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
The Scripture said in Hebrews 9, verse 24, he not entered into
holy places made with hands, but into heaven itself. into heaven itself now to appear
in the presence of God for us. And then fifthly, he says, in
Christ. Now, of all that I've said here
this morning, this is the most important. And this brings us
full circle right back to where he began his introduction here
in the book of Ephesians. back to the source and fountainhead
of all spiritual blessings as he sat before us as the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Outside of Christ, God is a consuming
fire. Outside of Christ, God demands
from you what you cannot produce. Outside of Christ, he will exact
a justice from you that you can never satisfy. You think about
that. That's why torment is everlasting,
because you can't satisfy it. You can't satisfy the justice
of God, and you can't quench his wrath. You can't do it. God is God. He's infinite. He
demands infinite perfection in all things. It's a wrath that
you can never quench, and an anger you can never resist, and
a curse you can never change. God outside of Christ cannot
bless at all. To bless apart from Christ, he'd
have to cease to be God. That's what this book teaches.
And that's what Paul's setting before us here is the God, the
living God, the real God, the God of the Bible, the God of
Old and New Testament, the God with whom we have to do, the living God. God outside of Christ is no blessing
at all. Now look down here at verse 4.
Ephesians 1 verse 4. All of these blessings, God is
our God and Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. This union
by which He is able to bless fallen sinners. Look at this. All of these blessings,
He said, according as He hath chosen us in Him, that is in
Christ, before the foundation of the world. All of these blessings have an
object. God doesn't bless. You know,
we like to We used to go hunting when I was real young, and I
loved to take that shotgun and shoot, because I could just turn
and shoot. And I'd hit something. I might not hit everything, but
I'd hit something with it, because it went out and fanned way out.
God doesn't shoot from the hip with his blessings. He takes
aim. He has an object, John. He has an object of blessing.
He has an object of His love. He has objects that He intends
to save and intends to bless. And He is going to save them
and He is going to bless them. Listen to this, over in 2 Timothy. Turn over with me so you can
read it with me. I quote these things to you all
the time, but I seldom have you to turn to. Let me show you several
passages. I want to show you that the doctrine
of election is a doctrine preached and understood and rejoiced in
by the early church. This doctrine of election was
not, you know, in the Southern Baptist right now, they have
a little group, I forget what they call themselves, but they
profess to believe in election and believe in sovereignty and
believe in all these things, but it's a secret. They can't
tell anybody. That's ridiculous. The early
church preached these things. They believed these things. They
rejoiced in these things. They sang about these things.
David sang about them. Moses sang about them. All the
people of God from the beginning of time, when their eyes were
opened to see what these things were, rejoiced in them. And so
did the early church. Listen to this here in 2 Timothy
1.9. Now he's talking about himself suffering persecution and them
suffering persecution and said that these things were of God
who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling not according
to our works but according to His own purpose and grace which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Huh? There's no misunderstanding there.
There's no unclarity there. This is not something all fogged
up. The only fog around this is man's
vain ideas of God. That's what fogs up these. That's
crystal clear, isn't it, Luke? Crystal clear. Look over with
me at Romans chapter 11. Most people will own the nation
of Israel as God's elect. Ask anybody who Israel is, that's
God's chosen people. They're God's elect. They'll
tell you real quick. They willingly accept that election
because they do not see their election as a threat to their
standing before God. See, that's why they're willing
to own Israel as the elect of God because that has nothing
to do with whether or not they're going to be saved. This is something
totally different over here. And all through their preaching
about the prophecies and the end times and all these things,
they always separate Israel from the people of God. They're people
of God, but they're separate. They're a whole different thing
over here. That has nothing to do with me.
But that's not what Paul said. And I suppose even to the Jew
who saw himself as the elect of God, the Gentile church, become
a threat to his salvation. When he saw what election truly
was and how they were preaching it, it become a threat to him.
And they didn't want any part of the Gentiles. Now listen to
this here in Romans 11, verse 1. You've got enough working knowledge
of Romans chapter 9 and Jacob and election and God's sovereignty
and things to understand how this apostle has gotten to this
place here in Romans chapter 11. And so he says then, hath
God cast away his people? What about these people? What
about this nation? What about these natural sons
of Abraham? God cast them all away? All them
promises that he talked about back there, and Abraham, and
Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph, all these promises, we're just
supposed to forget about them, supposed to ignore them? What
about these? Has God cast away his people?
God forbid. Paul said, for I am also an Israelite
of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not
cast away his people, which he foreknew. What ye not what the
Scripture saith to Elijah? There's old Elijah down there
in the cave, hiding from Jezebel, thought he was the only one left
in the world who believed in God. What does Scripture say? He made
intercession to God against Israel. And he said, Lord, they've killed
thy prophets and dig down thine altars, and I'm the only one
left alive. Only one left alive. For what
saith the answer of God to him? I have reserved to myself 7,000
men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Even so, Paul said,
at this present time also there is a remnant according to the
election of grace, a remnant of Jews. That's what Paul's talking
about here. A remnant of the chosen people
of God. He said, I'm a Jew. I'm a Jew. There's a remnant of Jews saved
by the free grace of God. And if by grace, then it's no
more works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace.
But if it be of works, then it's no more grace. Otherwise, work
is no more work. What then? What's the conclusion
of this argument? Now, listen. Israel hath not
obtained that which it seeketh for, but the election obtained
it, and the rest were blinded. God has a spiritual Israel, and
it's inclusive of some of the sons of Abraham. Not all of them,
but some of them. God didn't cast them away. He
never talked about them. We just misunderstood what God
said. We just misunderstood. This election
has to do with the Israel of God. Peter writes to the strangers
scattered abroad, he said, and he calls them this, who are elect
according to the foreknowledge of God. And then Paul preached
over at Antioch. And there was Jews and Gentiles
both there in the church. And the Jews didn't want him.
They walked out on him. They turned their back on him. They
laughed him to scorn and walked out and said, we don't want to
hear this. And they just walked away. But
the Gentiles said, would you come back and preach to us next
week? Paul said, I'll be here. So he come back and preached
to them. And he told those Jews, he said, since you judged yourselves
unworthy of everlasting life, he said, behold, I turn to the
Gentiles. And he said, they were glad.
Gentiles heard about this election of God because to them it was
an open door. The Jew, he believed God was
obligated to save his soul, but the Gentile saw no obligation.
He saw himself separated from God, cast away, outcast, fallen. He was glad to hear about election,
and so were you if you ever see yourself separated from God. Oh, he was glad. He was glad. And they said, preach to us,
and he did in Acts 13.48, and as many as were ordained to eternal life,
believed." Election. You can't deny election. I'm
just giving you two or three. There's 27 times where he uses
the word elect and election and elected in the New Testament
and the Old Testament. And that's not even to mention
the times that he talks about his chosen people or his sheep
or His body, or His people, or His bride. There's no way that you can take
that representation of Christ and His bride and make that out
to be universal. No way. I'm going to tell you something.
When I picked out a bride, I picked out one woman. Not every woman,
one woman. Is that right? So did he. Loaded hate. Particular, peculiar. Listen to this, 2 Thessalonians
2.13, God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. How
are you going to get around that? Peter tells the church they are
a chosen generation, chosen in Christ, elect and precious. Christ
tells us that the days, the evil days of this world toward the
end of time shall not be shortened except for the elect's sake.
And you can just go on and on and on. He said at His second
coming His angels would be sent and gather unto Him all His elect
from the four winds. Ain't that what He said? Election's not salvation, but
election is unto salvation. We're chosen to be blessed. Ain't
that what he said? He blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ according as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. And it's election
that sets them apart from all other men. Who's elect? God's
election. What kind of an election? Election
of grace. It's an election of grace. Look at Paul's conversion. God
unhorsed that proud rebel and throwed his face in the dust.
Great scales came upon his eyes. He was blind before God. Had
to be led by the hand. They led him down to Ananias. First thing Ananias told him,
he said, Paul, he said, receive your sight. You're a chosen vessel. Ain't that what he told him?
Oh, don't tell anybody. Don't talk about election. They'll
all run off. Not if they're elect, they won't.
Oh, they'd be happy to hear about election. Would you be happy? Knowing all
these things, these people are blessed before the foundation
of the world. God himself has engaged all that
makes up himself, his whole character, his sovereignty, his immutability,
his wisdom, all things that God is, he's engaged to save your
soul. Think about it. Who's he going
to save, his elect? Oh, boy, now it gets interesting,
don't it? Now, Peter said, if I was you,
he said, I'd make my calling and election sure. He said, that's
what I'd do. I'd be worried about that. I
wouldn't be worried about making decisions and walking out. I'd
be wanting to find out, am I one of his elect? Am I one for whom
he died? Because all these spiritual blessings
are according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world. the disciples. These learned
men, they'd been to seminary, they'd been to the schools of
the Jews who for thousands of years had been schooled in the
scriptures and they'd been down to those schools and they were
schooled by men for years and years and years and they got
their name just like we call them doctors and all of this
stuff and put initials and titles and hang plaques on the wall
and stuff to confirm these men's education and who they are and
set them apart and all these other things. And the Lord came
up to them and started talking like you'd talk to a baby. He said a certain sower went
out to sow. Talking about planting seeds
and stuff. And then he said the kingdom of God is like unto this
woman who lost some coins and took a light and searched for
the coins. And he talked like you'd be talking
to a little kid. disciples turned to him and said,
Lord, you've offended these Pharisees. You've offended them. Why do
you talk to them in parables? Why do you talk to them with
these little simple stories? Don't you know that's offensive
to them? He said, because it's given for you to know. Huh? Given to you to know the mysteries
of the kingdom of heaven. It's not given to them. Not given
to them. I'm not talking to them. I'm
talking to you. That's right. I'll tell you why men ain't scrambling
to call on God, because they think God's obligated to save
them. That's right. I've heard them say it. I've
heard them stand up, sitting right there in the pew, John,
and they stand there and look at me and say, God's only obligated
to call you one time. Brother, God ain't obligated
to call you at all. His only obligations are those
appointments and that divine counsel that he decreed before
the world was. He puts himself under an obligation. He's not obligated to you at
all, not at all. And he'd be just and declare
that from all eternity if he sends you down. He'll still be
God. I tell you, our problem is we
don't know God. That's why we get all upset and angry and fuss
and kick and bite and everything else. And we're too sorry to
open this book up and read it and find out who God is. That's
just the truth. We'd rather pay somebody to stand
up there every week, motivate us, talk to us about possibilities. All that kind of thing sends
us out the door. Salvation is coming to know God.
He said that's eternal life, that they might know Thee, the
only true God, in Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. That's eternal
life. That's eternal life.